Much of the talk surrounding Indiana basketball throughout the season centered on the Hoosiers’ six-man 2013 recruiting class and the fact they oversigned by three heading into next season.

But in the span of only four days, that took care of itself as Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller declared for June’s NBA draft and sophomore guard Remy Abell announced he would transfer to seek more playing time.

Abell’s decision is an interesting one, and leaves the Hoosiers with even less experience heading into next season. Abell wasn’t necessarily a major contributor in his two years at Indiana, but he was often the second man off the bench this season and played well at times. Abell is a fearless player who really helped Indiana on the defensive end but was often inconsistent on the offensive side. He shot just 32.4 percent from the field in Big Ten games as a sophomore.

Even though he’d be an upperclassman next season, Abell wasn’t likely to make the Hoosiers’ starting lineup. Incoming freshman Stanford Robinson seems a more likely candidate, and if Indiana wants to play a bigger lineup, it could even play Will Sheehey at the two-guard position.

But still, Abell’s role on the team figured to grow significantly if he made offseason improvements. He could have been looking at in the neighborhood of 20 minutes a game at an elite program. But Abell may be seeking a starting job and a more significant role somewhere else.

From my perspective, it’s disappointing to see Abell go. He’s going to have to sit out next season instead of potentially playing a significant role for Crean and the Hoosiers. He’s a good kid and a solid player, but maybe he just didn’t feel comfortable at IU. You can’t blame him for looking elsewhere if that’s the case.

“Being at Indiana has been the best two years of my life,” Abell said in a release. “I love the school, the program, the fans and I want to thank everyone for their support. The coaching staff has been great to me and I couldn’t ask to have had better teammates while I was here. I am going to miss everyone, but I just feel at this time a fresh start and new opportunities are what is best in following God’s plan for me.”

It’d be easy to look at Indiana’s current situation and say the roster is set and Abell will be the last player to leave. And maybe that’s true. But with the Hoosiers continuing to recruit 2013 guard Jaren Sina, there remains the possibility that somebody else could leave before next season.

Speculating as to who that might be isn’t fair to anybody involved, so we won’t do that here. But for now, the Hoosiers are in good shape as far as scholarships are concerned for next season.

Sometimes because we love IU so much that we can’t understand why anyone would want to leave. However,sometimes kids decide to leave because they feel it’s best for them. Why is it that you all always think it was the coach pushing them out. In this case it is the quality of incoming players and injured players coming back that makes kids want to go play for a small school where they can start. It’s not what we want as fans it is what they want as players. Why do you always try and read more into things than just trying to hear the truth? Remy wanted to go, so Remy’s going, it is just that simple. It’s not rocket science it’s College Basketball 101. Some of you need a refresher course.

I think that’s your starting lineup. I think NV and LF will be very good from day 1. I’d say that Williams may be next yrs 6th starter, that AE may be the next Roth type contributor, and I think HP logs 15 min a game. It will be exciting to see how it all plays out.

He had defensive skills but was spotty on offense. It will hurt depth definitely. I wonder since the release was made from California if he is considering UC-Davis. He had committed to Bradley before Jim Les got fired then scrambled to find new place to go and picked IU. Les went to UC-Davis. Maybe his style and playing time intrigues him. Anyway I wish him good luck.

SCHoosier

Yes but it will take the new guys the summer and half the season to adapt to the speed and physicality of the college game. Then comes the conference which is an entirely different animal. Tough adjustment for these kids with no guarantees.

SCHoosier

When TC recruited him, Stan quoted coach as saying..I” I want you to be able to play the #2 and point”. He will be able to do that by his Soph year.

SCHoosier

IUFAN..I think you are really pretty much on target with your speculation on the conversation. These kids want the ball and the opportunity to do something big. Remy wants to start..at point..and be a factor. Hope he can.

SCHoosier

I’d say that’s a real stretch…but I hope you are right.

CreanFaithful

Yep. Randel El before him.

Ole Man

Confirmation?

Ole Man

God Speed, Remy.

You would have given the team depth, great experience, energy, and defense.
And I was always happy that you came to Indiana even though you were from Kentucky.

Wherever you go, I’m sure you’ll succeed. (But please don’t go to Butler. It will make me sick watching you blossom into a star for another team in our state.) And I’m sure you will blossom into that star.

marcusgresham

He does have an old college teammate at Butler in Kameron Woods.

marcusgresham

Seriously? He wants playing time. It’s understandable….and as for the grass not being greener on the other side I could sit here and name tons of guys who had successful careers following transfers.

marcusgresham

I was thinking just the opposite: “Please stay on this side of the river where we’re smarter and less obnoxious.” (although I don’t mind WKU or Murray so much.)

marcusgresham

That, or how about Samford to reunite with Benny Seltzer? Wherever, I hope he does well.

marcusgresham

I’ve not heard that one. That makes absolutely 0 sense. One year of eligibility remaining, a chance to be a starter (and one of the leading scorers,) very nearly ready to start law school.

marcusgresham

I thought there was already discussion of him walking on the basketball team. Shades of Julius Peppers, perhaps?

marcusgresham

Quinn Buckner
Ross Hales
Antwaan Randle-El (who also played baseball for a season)
James Hardy
Only ones I can think of who played basketball. There have been others who played two other sports—usually football players who ran track, and Greg Heban was a pitcher before joining the football team but I don’t know if he did both at the same time.

Snookafly

Oh you’re right, there have been quite a few playing various sports, but it seems like the modern D-1 basketball player rarely commits to two anymore. Even when they do, football players like Hardy or Randle-El rarely have much left over after the season to devote to consistently contributing on the court.

Ole Man

LOL! Excellent points about “smarter and less obnoxious”.

And what I meant to say (and thought I typed) was: I was always happy that you came to Indiana and were from Kentucky.
What was he? The second Ky baller in our history to play for the Hoosiers?

Ole Man

I was at IU when Quinn came.
And although I am getting that old and my memory is fading, I’m pretty sure he was strictly a basketball player.

I remember this one kid that couldn’t shoot well at all when he arrived in Bloomington. Had the same skill set as Stanford. His name is Victor Oladipo. I heard he figured out that jumper.

RT1

VERY GOOD comparison Milla…

Guest

BUT… it took VO until his 3rd year to become a 2. Stanford will NOT be a typical 2G next year, he’ll be that athletic 2/3 hybrid who lives on D / slashing & general athletic garbage buckets. Don’t get me wrong, everybody needs a guy like that and I also have no doubt he will be a complete player by his junior year but I stand by my first reply that questioned IUfanPurduePhd’s assesment that StanRob is a traditional 2 and that Remy Abel

marcusgresham

The first since 1969. I don’t know how many there were before that.

marcusgresham

“While a student at IU Bloomington, he played football for two years before deciding to focus on basketball….”

That kid at South Carolina this year may have been their best player. Don’t remember his name off the top of my head.
Julius Peppers played significant minutes. I don’t think you’re looking for Latham to play a ton of minutes but it sure would be nice to have a guy come in and knock the hell out of some guys for 4-5 minutes a half. IU could have used that this year.

Ole Man

I still don’t remember that.
And that article said nothing about that.
Not saying you’re wrong, but until I read it, I’m still believing that he started as guard in his sophomore year.

Anne Jam

He deserved the starting job over hulls, his defense was just so much better.